


Who is He Kissing?

by ambidextrious_witch



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-30 14:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6427807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambidextrious_witch/pseuds/ambidextrious_witch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien reveals his true feelings to Ladybug and shows her who he really is, but will she be willing to do the same? Marinette is scared that he won't feel the same once he finds out that the girl he loves isn't as amazing as her superhero counterpart. ML reveal drabble. This fic was named after a Jem and the Holograms song.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who is He Kissing?

A superhero’s identity is a valuable and precious thing. Two lives never mixing, never mingling, always separate and yet somehow still together, coinciding in one person. It’s the way it’s always been done in the mighty world of heroes, for the second they decide to intertwine those two lives they leave themselves vulnerable to a number of new dangers. Although, it’s not exactly a written rule (none of them are really), heroes have always tended to follow this ideal to protect themselves, as well as the people they care about.

However, as a hero, you can do whatever you want, really. You’ve certainly got the power and the right to do so. Tell them all, if you really feel you must. Although, you still ought to be rather careful and realized the severity what you’re doing. You must think about who your telling, if they can be trusted, and if they’ll still love you when they find out you’re not actually who they thought you were. There’s a high probability they won’t feel the same and still say...

_I love you._

It was nearing sunset and Marinette Dupain-Cheng, or as she was more commonly known to the city of Paris, Ladybug, was in a huff after defeating yet another akuma. Chat Noir, her flirty black cat companion, had to go recharge his miraculous and she was left to finish the job on her own. She had just reformed the butterfly and was about to change back to normal in a nearby alley, when she came face-to-face with someone else already hiding out there. Ladybug gasped as she almost crashed full force into Adrien Agreste. Classmate, part time model and coincidently the guy of her dreams. They got locked into another silent stare, both unable to find the words to say to one another.

For Marinette, it was because she never saw much of Adrien when she was Ladybug and the shock of the sudden meeting was affecting her. She didn’t know why this was such a rare occurrence, considering pretty much their entire class had been akuma’s already, but he was just never around when she was transformed. She didn’t really know how to act with him in this other identity. However, Ladybug had absolutely no idea why he was being so silent, though. Why was he looking at her like in such an odd way?  

“Ladybug—I-I-” he stumbled.

“Yes?” Ladybug replied, with a curious rise in her tone. What could Adrien possibly have to say to Ladybug. He didn’t really know her. She’d never seen him look so nervous before.

Suddenly, he kissed her with passion that nice boys weren’t supposed to have. She got too lost in the moment to remember all the vital details she was overlooking. Her dream boy was actually kissing her. For Marinette, nothing else mattered. However, when he finally pulled away, she realized something so heart wrenchingly fatal. Unfortunately, she was still wearing her mask and was still fully transformed. He had just kissed Ladybug.

He didn’t love Marinette. That kiss wasn’t meant for her.

“I love you, My Lady.” he added, with a charming grin, stealing the voice and the courage of someone else she knew.

“My Lady?”

“Black cat! Transform.” A black cat, much like Tikki, was pulled out from hiding behind Adrien’s shirt and sucked into his ring. Marinette gasped as Adrien was suddenly shrouded in a mixture of green and black and in a split second her dream boy was clad in a black leather suit she knew all too well. Chat Noir stood in Adrien’s place, nervously scratching the back of his head in anticipation for her reaction, “Looks like the cats out of the bag.”

“Ah—what-who—words not working.” Ladybug stammered, stepping back from him. Adrien and Chat couldn’t possibly be the same person. She knew both of them well and they were two fundamentally different people. Adrien was nice and sweet, the most perfect boy in the whole wide world. Chat had a terrible habit of making bad puns and didn’t respect personal space. He was a great partner and was generally nice too, just frankly not the type of guy she was into.

“That’s a shame, because I kind of would like an answer.”

“I have to go…” Ladybug mumbled, hastily detaching her yo-yo from her belt for a quick getaway. She didn’t have an answer to give him. It was too much to deal with right now. She had to get away.

“Lady, wait!” Chat yelled, grabbing her hand before she could yo-yo away from him, “I understand you probably need time. I’ll wait for my answer. I know you also go to Collège Françoise Dupont school. Meet me at the dance and give me your answer then.”

She didn’t nod or give any indication of hearing him. The second he let go of her she swung her yo-yo around a chimney on a nearby building and soared away. She de-transformed back to Marinette in her own rooftop garden and an exhausted Tikki fell back into her palms. She was completely silent as they descended the stairs down into her room, with Tikki being too tired to speak and Marinette simply not wanting too. She fed Tikki from the emergency stash of cookies hidden under her bed, before curling up under the covers with the intent of never coming out again.

_“Marinette, are you feeling any better?”_

It had been almost five days since Marinette had been anywhere but her room and Tikki asked her that question single every day. She wouldn’t eat or speak, which fooled her parents as real sickness, but Tikki knew better. Something was wrong with her that was more than just physical. Thankfully, Hawkmoth had graciously given Marinette a break from being Ladybug, so she could fall into this heart wrenching, love-sick depression. Although, she was surprised a black butterfly hadn’t come through her window to take her yet, “Maybe we should try and go to school today.”

“I’m still too sick to go to school, Tikki.” Marinette mumbled, in excuse.

“You can’t stay in bed forever...” Tikki sighed.

A few more hopeless hours later, Marinette’s mother called up the stairs and Tikki and Marinette perked up at once at the sudden call,

“Mari! Are you up? Your friends from school are here to visit.”

“Actually, Nino and I totally forgot we have some other stuff to do. We’ll just let Adrien take care of her.” Marinette could hear Alya saying, from down the stairs. She gasped and raced to the edge of her bed to peer down. Sure enough, Alya, Nino and Adrien were all surrounding the kitchen table with her mother. Alya and Nino were already starting to wave goodbye and rushing to make a quick exit. They both noticed her staring from the top of the stairs, while Adrien was cluelessly distracted by some fresh croissants, and simultaneously winked, thinking they were giving her precious time alone with Adrien.

“No! Alya!” she whispered, in panic. But it was too late, they were both gone. The last person she wanted to see right now was Adrien, especially alone and with her looking like an emotional wreck. She had ripped down her posters, changed her desktop wallpaper, and stayed in bed all week in a vicious attempt to avoid him. Marinette quickly rushed to her bedside table and started to brush out her hair, so it fell gracefully over her shoulders in shiny blue waves. She didn’t have time for pigtails, hopefully, he wouldn’t think she looked weird with her hair down.

“Is it okay for me to come up?” Adrien asked, poking his head in from the opening in the floor before he came all the way in.

“Totally.” Marinette replied, checking the area with her peripheries to make sure Tikki and everything Adrien related was completely gone. They exchanged an awkward wave hello and he settled himself in her office chair.

“Well, you look a lot better than I thought you would. You’ve been gone all week. I thought you were going to be on your deathbed when we visited.”

“Yeah, I had a really bad bug, but it’s all gone now. Don’t worry.”

“That’s nice to hear. Are you going to come back to school soon?”

“Maybe.” Marinette answered. She knew she couldn’t avoid school forever, but unless things changed she didn’t think she could handle it. Her heart was already aching and she was finding it hard to breathe in the few seconds he’d been there, “So, what brings you here, Adrien? Don’t you have work?”

“I have the day off and Alya thought it’d be a nice if we all came over for a visit to see how you were doing. We also brought the homework you’ve missed,” Adrien answered, sheepishly, “Unfortunately, the homework was with Alya and she and Nino apparently had something else they had to run off too all of a sudden.”

“Why’d you stay then?” Marinette asked, curiously.

“Well, we’re still friends, aren’t we? I wanted to see you.”

“Thanks.”

She smiled and so did he. Marinette completely forgot about her heartache and let herself have a moment with the boy she loved. In that moment, however, Adrien’s eyes had drifted to the mess of papers she had on her desk. Normally, her desk was pretty clean, unless she was working on a major crafting project. The area was filled with sketches of different dresses she’d been working on before she became ‘sick’. After Adrien’s bombshell announcement, Marinette didn’t really feel like designing ‘a killer dress to knock him off his feet’ at the dance was worth it anymore.

“Wow, are these your designs? They’re incredible.” he exclaimed, as he began to shuffle through the pile.

“Ah, don’t look at those! They’re not done yet.” she gasped, frazzled. Marinette hopped to her feet, completely forgetting that she was in her pajamas.

“Are they for something special?”

“I was having difficulty finding a dress for the dance, so I decided to sketch out kind of what I was looking for. It helps me organize my thoughts.” Marinette answered, trying to shuffle all the papers into one pile and away from Adrien.

“I think you’d look the best in this one.” Adrien remarked. He was holding up a colored sketch of a blue haired girl in a ladybug motif dress, naturally. Her spirits were dampened slightly, but his smile was golden and she could tell he was talking about her. Marinette would look amazing. Not Ladybug.

“Really?”

“You know, if you’re really having that much trouble finding something, my father is a fashion designer and could probably get his team to actually bring this design to life for you.”

“No way! I-I couldn’t possibly ask you to do something like that for me. The dance is only like a week away—”

“He’s had shorter deadlines. Even though he’s kind of busy, it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

“That’d be great. Thank you so much...” she stated, covering her blushing face so he couldn’t see. He stuffed the design in his book bag and looked ready to leave, but for some reason she didn’t want him to go quite yet. Even though she had been so keen on him leaving from the start. Her curiosity had to ask him something, “So, are you going to the dance too?”

“Yeah, I just bought my ticket yesterday. Should be fun, right?”

“Do you, by any chance, already have a date?”

“Sort of,” Adrien replied, scratching the back of his head nervously. She could tell he was thinking about Ladybug, that amazing, confident, kick-butt girl he’d fallen for and she immediately regretted asking, “I invited this girl I really like, but I don’t know if she’ll actually show up.”

“I’m sure she will. What kind of girl would ever stand you up?” Marinette replied, a little too somberly, but Adrien didn’t notice.

“Ha, you’d be surprised,” he remarked, with a small chuckle, clearly not catching onto his hope crushing statement, “Well, I should probably get home now. I’ll bring this design to my dad and I’ll text you later with his answer.”

“Okay. Bye Adrien...”

“See ya’ later, Marinette. I hope you feel better soon!”

“Is that why you’re so mopey and have been faking sick? Because Adrien is in love with another girl?” Tikki exclaimed, floating out from under the bed, once she was sure Adrien was completely gone.

“No, Tikki. I’m mopey because that girl is me.”

“Huh?”

“He confessed that he’s Chat Noir and that they’re both in love with Ladybug.” Marinette confessed, cringing a little. It was still hard to believe he was really her crime fighting partner this whole time and it hurt to say out loud.

“So, Chat is really Adrien? Funny, Adrien has never really stricken me as the ladies’ man who makes flirty puns,” Tikki added, pretty much saying exactly what Marinette had been thinking, but without as much as the angst and panic. She just sounded curious, “But, I’m still not seeing what the problem is. This is good news Marinette. This means Adrien is in love with you!”

Marinette didn’t answer and Tikki looked confused,

“Wait a minute, he confessed, revealed his secret identity and you—”

“I ran.” Marinette admitted.

“Marinette!” Tikki snapped, clearly disappointed in her, “Superheroes never run away from anything, especially from something so trivial. How could you do something like that?”

“I ran away because everything I ever wanted to happen was finally happening, but it wasn’t really happening to me. Adrien said that he loved me, but he was talking to Ladybug. I still had my spots on…” Marinette reasoned. Tears swelled in her eyes, “I know Ladybug is still me on the inside, but he fell in love with the cooler, more confident version of me, the best version of myself. I can’t always be that girl Adrien fell in love with and I know once he finds out who I really am, he’ll change his mind. I’m sure of it…”

“I hardly know Adrien, but from the way you talk about him and what I saw just now, I seriously doubt it,” Tikki reasoned. She quickly zoomed over to the tissue box on Marinette’s desk and grabbed one to wipe away her tears, “If he changes his mind after discovering who you really are, he doesn’t deserve to be with you.”

“Thanks, Tikki.” Marinette sniffed, cracking a small smile. She squished Tikki close to her cheek, in their version of what would be a hug if Kwami weren’t miniscule creatures. Her friend was right and Alya would’ve probably said the same thing too, if she were there and knew her identity. She needed to tell Adrien who she was and how she felt. He was expecting Ladybug at the dance and she was going to meet him there.

Marinette got a text later that evening from Adrien that said his father would accept the job, but only if she would work with him on it. She hesitated on answering, thinking she’d run into Adrien more, but ended up agreeing to do it a half an hour later. It would be a great learning experience, considering she wanted to be a fashion designer too and she doubted she’d really run into Adrien that often. They’d probably both be too busy to talk. The next day while Adrien was off working, she met with Mr. Agreste at his studio. He was a little cold and scary in person, but having to protect him as Ladybug and seeing how he looked at Adrien she found herself unafraid of him, unlike most of his employees. He praised her dress designs, along with her pigeon hat she had made for that contest, and they began to work together on the design Adrien picked out. Passing it off as a job internship and having Alya bring her the homework at the studio, she was able to miss another week of school and avoid Adrien without much consequence.

It was soon the dreaded day of the school dance and Marinette had arrived to pick the dress up from Mr. Agreste. He had told her to go to school that day and come back for it later, while he finished with the small details. The studio was strangely quiet and empty as she entered, which was pretty bazar, considering there were usually people bustling around everywhere.

“Mr. Agreste? Are you here?”

There were two dresses hanging off models at the nearest work station. One was the ladybug dress and the other was a pretty, peach colored dress. She examined the other dress that was not hers, but was strangely there beside it. It didn’t look like most of Mr. Agreste’s sharp designs. It was soft chiffon, trimmed with lace, and had a bubbly, flowery skirt with a white tulle petticoat beneath it. Suddenly, Mr. Agreste appeared from the next room and she jumpily backed away from the other dress.

“Ah, Marinette. There you are. So, what do you think of the dress?”

“It’s really nice.” she exclaimed, looking over at the dress they had designed. It was a shiny red dress, that also had a full poofy skirt with layers of black tulle instead of white. The top was strapless and covered by a long-sleeved, dark-red sheer and black polka-dot pattern.

“Yes, my son does have good taste. However, I’m afraid the dress won’t quite suit you as well as he imagined,” Mr.  Agreste remarked, surprisingly examining their beautiful creation with a new disdain. He stopped and pointed her attention back to the other dress, “Personally, I think you’ll look much better in this dress and I think, once he sees you, he’ll most certainly agree.”

“Is it one of your designs?” Marinette questioned, curiously.

“No…” Mr. Agreste sighed, suddenly looking at the dress with slight sorrow, “It belonged to Adrien’s mother a long, long time ago.”

“Sir, I couldn’t possibly take something like that! I’m such a klutz. What if I rip it? What if I spill something—?”

“I have faith in you, Miss Dupain-Cheng,” Mr. Agreste added, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder to calm her arguments and objections. He gave her a small smile. For a fraction of a second, he acted like he knew exactly who she really was and how Adrien felt about her. Marinette waved the impossible notion away, though. Gabriel Agreste seemed like an intelligent man, but there was no way he could figure all that out in a week, while Adrien who had spent so much time with both Ladybug and Marinette still had absolutely no idea, “However, ultimately, the decision is yours. Make your choice.”

Marinette ended up emerging from the dressing rooms in the Adrien’s mother’s dress. It was more beautiful actually on someone, than it had been on the dress form. She looked at herself in the full-length mirror set just outside the rooms and she realized she’d made the right decision. It was better to look like Marinette than Ladybug, if she ever expected for Adrien to see that’s who she truly was. She got on the heels and accessories Mr. Agreste had waiting for her and continued to complete the look. Marinette was soon ready to rush off and leave, grabbing her bag of normal clothes and shoes as she went, when Mr. Agreste suddenly stopped her.

“One last touch...a pretty Papillion.” he added, sliding a large peach butterfly shaped hairpin right in the crease of her low hair bun. Butterflies were a signature he used in all his designs for a reason that this girl and his son were too clueless to realize. His hands brushed against her ears, as he finished adjusting the pin. However, seeing the girl smile back at him, he suddenly lost the nerve to snatch her miraculous earrings, despite how easy it could’ve been to do so in the moment, “He was right. You do have her smile…”

“Thank you, Mr. Agreste…” Marinette smiled, waving goodbye, as she pushed open the door.

“Good luck…” he stated, waving back as she made her way out onto the street, “…Ladybug.”

After going home, putting her stuff down, and grabbing her little pink purse with Tikki in it, Marinette quickly dabbed herself with a little makeup and extra touches before Alya came to pick her up. Eventually, she descended the stairs, upon hearing her friend’s arrival and made a grand entrance. They were held up for a good extra five minutes because Alya and her father had to take a billion pictures of her to mark the occasion. However, eventually Alya and Marinette were on track to the dance.

The Collège Françoise Dupont school was all dressed up from students to staff. Upon entering, Marinette could already see Chloé Bourgeois with Lila and Sabrina in a butter yellow dress that probably cost thousands of dollars. Admittedly, she looked thousands of dollars’ worth of gorgeous, but as usual her beauty was overshadowed by her foul attitude. She was naturally complaining about not being able to find Adrien and the horrible, hopefully slanderous, rumor that had been going around all week that he already had a date. Since, Nino was Ayla’s boyfriend and Adrien was his best friend, Marinette reckoned it would not take her long to find him, at least. She just had to get to him before Chloé glommed onto him for the entire night, like the wretched leech she was.

“You okay, Marinette?” Alya remarked, noticing her friend’s spaced out expression. “Don’t worry about that rumor. Nino told me Adrien has just been saying that, so he won’t get bombarded by girls all night. It’s not true.”

“Honestly, I’m fine Alya. Let’s just go dance and have fun.” Marinette smiled. Alya pulled her out onto the dancefloor and they began to dance along with the other kids looking for a good time, rather than needless romance. Eventually, after a few songs, came the mandatory, couples only, slow song. Most of the ones without dates exited the floor, while others like Marinette and Alya and Rose and Juleka began to twirl with one another. Although, about a minute in, Marinette was tapped on the shoulder to release her girl friend,

“Slow song alert! Mind if I cut in and steal my girlfriend from you, Marinette?” Nino chimed, popping up from the dense crowd. He and Adrien had probably just gotten there.

“Go ahead, Nino. She’s all yours.” Marinette answered, stepping aside and letting him take up Alya’s hand.

“Meanwhile, you should totally go ask Adrien to dance. He’s hiding over there in the corner sulking.”

Marinette nervously made her way over to where Adrien was apparently hiding. He looked up and she started blushing, nervously, but willed herself to keep on walking towards him regardless.

“Hi, Adrien.” Marinette greeted, giving him a small wave.

“Marinette, you look beautiful…” Adrien marveled, with a bit of blush on his cheeks too. Which only got worse on both of them when they both realized what he had just said, “I-mean—that’s a—a lovely dress. But, what happened to the other design you’ve been working on with my father?”

“We both agreed it was nice, but it wasn’t really me,” Marinette explained, “I know you’re waiting for someone else right now, but Nino said I should ask you to dance.”

“Did he now?” Adrien questioned, looking at his pal over on the dancefloor. Both he and Alya were managing to give him thumbs up, while they danced with each other, “Well, I guess one dance wouldn’t kill me.”

Adrien took Marinette’s hand and guided her onto the dancefloor with the others. He blushed feverously taking her waist and began to twirl her in the rhythm of the music. Although, they were surrounded by others, for Marinette at least, it felt like they were the only two people in the world. If there were any moment right to tell him how she felt, it would probably be this one.

“So, this girl of yours…” she started off, cautiously, “How much do you really know about her? Are you two really close?”

“To be honest, I don’t actually know too much about her. It’s probably a little embarrassing how little I know about her, in fact,” Adrien beamed, with kind of a nervous laugh. He had probably never spoken to anyone about his crush on Ladybug, except maybe his Kwami, who Tikki said was named Plagg. Marinette looked down at his shirt pocket for a split second to find two bright green eyes slanted at her with suspicion. She jumped nervously and her gaze refocused on Adrien. He looked right into her eyes, “It’s just when I’m with her I feel…”

“Happy?” she tried, noticing Adrien was having trouble thinking of the right word to describe how he felt. He nodded in agreement, even though it was a clear understatement, “Adrien, I need to—”

Suddenly, a big yellow blur yanked her and Adrien apart, shoving Marinette to the ground, but keeping Adrien cuddled close. It obviously didn’t take her long to realize it was Chloé, and not Big Bird, coming in to take Adrien away from her.

“Step aside, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It’s my turn to dance with Adrien now. Bye- bye.” Chloé sneered, waving bye to Marinette as she began to sway away, taking Adrien with her

“Chloé!” Adrien snapped at her, in disapproval. He shoved her off and rushed to help Marinette back to her feet again, “Are you alright, Marinette?”

“I think so…” Marinette replied, rubbing the back of her head. The bun had cushioned most of the blow and thankfully didn’t stab the butterfly hairpin through her skull. In a bit of a hasty panic, she checked her dress for any signs of damage. There was no way Mr. Agreste would let her ever see his son again, if she ruined one of his wife’s old dresses. Or at least that’s what Marinette thought, in her overdramatic mindset. The dress was thankfully undamaged. Alya and Nino rushed over the second they saw that Chloé was stepping in between their two friends.

“I think you should take her outside to get some air, don’t you think so, Nino?” Alya remarked, linking her arm with Chloé’s like they were best friends.

“Absolutely. We’ll take good care of Chloé for, ya. So, why don’t you take Marinette out, bro.” Nino added, restraining Chloé’s other arm. Before she could understand what was happening, the two were literally dragging her away, while Adrien led Marinette outside onto the school steps.

“Sorry about Chloé. She can be a bit abrasive sometimes. She used to be my only friend, before I met Nino, Alya and you,” Adrien explained, as they took a seat in the cool night air, “It was right on these steps, wasn’t it? I let you borrow my umbrella.”

“I guess. I mean, that’s when I forgave you for the gum incident and realized you weren’t a bad person. Would you consider that the start of our friendship?” Marinette rambled. That just happened to be the moment she fell in love with him. When the umbrella closed on her, he let out the cutest laugh she’d ever heard in her whole life and smiled at her for the very first time.

“Wouldn’t you?”

“Yes…”

“You were about to say something, weren’t you? Right before Chloé interrupted,” Adrien inquired, suddenly, sounding curious, “You might want to say it, before she comes storming out here after us.”

“Alright,” Marinette took a deep breath. This was it. The moment to tell him everything. She stood up, clutching onto her purse for extra support, “I’m going to say something, then I’m going to show you something and you have to promise me you’ll stay quiet till I’m done, okay?”

He nodded in agreement and she took another breath.

“Adrien, I-I—” Marinette was having just as much trouble saying it as Adrien did. And she had to resolve it the same way he had, if she wanted to have the strength to say it. She leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. The first time they kissed, all she cared about was getting him out of Dark Cupid’s control, the second time it had gotten her by too much of a surprise so she didn’t get to really savor the moment. She was mostly scared and confused. However, this time she could feel the softness and the warmth of his lips. He didn’t shove away what could’ve been an unwanted advance on him, but let Marinette pull away when she was ready, “I love you.”

“Um—am I allowed to answer that?”

“No, I am not done yet,” Marinette added, with a small wink. She had a duty to reveal her identity, just as he had revealed his to her. Even if it changed everything, she couldn’t go back anymore. Marinette opened her purse and Tikki fluttered out into her palm. Adrien stared and Plagg did too, considering he hadn’t seen Tikki herself in like a thousand years, “This is Tikki, my Kwami. Tikki, transform me!”

One moment Marinette stood and then in a shower of bright red light she was gone and Ladybug had taken her place. The peach dress was gone and she was covered in red and black polka dots. Ladybug was holding her hands behind her back, waiting for Adrien’s answer, but he just stared at her.

“You can say something now.” she stated, to a seemingly frozen Adrien. Plagg pulled on his cheek a little to snap him out of it and he came back from the paralyzing shock.

“I’m an idiot. How could I have not seen it sooner?” he sighed, hitting himself on the head. He looked over at her, with what Marinette knew was disappointment, “Can you please turn back?”

“Sure…” Ladybug sighed. She tapped her earrings and Tikki was sucked back out again. Marinette placed her back in the purse and waited for him to say more, even though she couldn’t bear to hear it.

“Marinette, I—”

“You don’t have to worry, Adrien. It’s alright. I wasn’t expecting you to still love her when you found out the truth.” Marinette added, her voice wobbly and weak. She turned to go back inside, probably hide in the bathroom and cry till inevitably Alya found her, but he stopped her.

“No, you’re wrong,” Adrien insisted, grabbing her hand before she could run away, “I thought that I loved Ladybug, but I’ve realized over the past couple weeks that being in love with a superhero is just a fantasy. I think she’s amazing and beautiful, but she can’t be there for me when I need her. She can only there when Paris needs her.”

“I’m sorry…”

“You don’t need to apologize, Marinette. Look, now that you know I’m Chat Noir, does that change the way you feel about Adrien at all?”

“No.” Marinette answered. Finding out Chat was Adrien had shocked her too, but it didn’t change the way she felt about either of them.

“Exactly. And knowing that you’re Ladybug doesn’t change how I feel about you. Ladybug still is you, Marinette. Just because she seems like a different person doesn’t mean that she is,” he continued, still holding onto her hand tightly, “I knew Ladybug was out there somewhere, I just didn’t realize she’d be just even more amazing in her civilian form and already someone so dear to me.”

“You can’t mean that…”

“I asked you to change back, didn’t I?” Adrien reasoned. Marinette nodded in agreement. She thought it had been because he was disappointed, but maybe she was wrong, “I wanted to tell Marinette that I love her and ask her on a date.”

“Yes!” Marinette replied, her teary-eyed frown immediately replaced, grinning from ear-to-ear. They were just about to go back inside together, make their debut as a couple to the school and probably cause Chloé and Lila double heart attacks. When, suddenly, their Kwami, who had a knack for being quiet during the moments that didn’t include them, couldn’t help but come out and float beside their glowing friends.

“Congratulations, Marinette!” Tikki beamed, squishing Marinette’s cheek in a hug.

“Yeah, you got the girl. Now, let’s go back inside! It’s freezing out here and there’s no Camembert.” Plagg added, shivering on Adrien’s shoulder. Yet gave Adrien a small grin, showing that he was happy that his friend was finally happy too. No one knew about his sad pining over Ladybug better than Plagg. It was nice to see he got the girl.

“Is this going to change our crime fighting relationship too?” Marinette questioned, at the appearance of the Kwami.

“Well, I might call you ‘My Lady’ in civilian mode and you might have to let Chat hold your hand occasionally…”

They both re-entered the school laughing, Adrien’s arm around Marinette, Kwami’s gliding around them, ready to start a riot. Absolutely invincible.


End file.
